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Moustaches, Home Oxygen Tanks Can Be Dangerous Match
-- Robert Preidt

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THURSDAY, June 26, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Facial hair
increases the risk of burns for people who use home oxygen
therapy, a new study warns.

Researchers compared a mannequin with a mustache made from
human hair and a mannequin without facial hair. They drilled
nostrils in the mannequins and inserted nasal tubes that were
connected to a home oxygen tank.

The oxygen flow was set at two liters a minute, which is
similar to the level used in home oxygen therapy. When the
mannequins were exposed to sparks, the oxygen tubes on the one
with facial hair ignited and the mustache went up in flames.
The oxygen tubes on the mannequin without facial hair did not
ignite.

The Mayo Clinic team also analyzed clinic records and found
that nine men were treated for home oxygen therapy-related
burns between 1994 and 2013. Eight of the men had facial hair
when they suffered their burns.

Patients in such cases "can have very bad facial burns and
airway burns also," study senior author Dr. Andrew Greenlund
said in a Mayo news release. "When fire burns the airway, then
you have swelling and tissue death. It can be very
dangerous."

The study was recent published in the journal Mayo Clinic
Proceedings.

More than 1 million Americans use home oxygen therapy, and
doctors need to warn patients about the burn risk associated
with facial hair, the researchers said.

There are a number of potential sources of ignition,
including people lighting matches or smoking cigarettes.

"It can be what you might think are innocuous or benign
things," Greenlund said. "But with the facial hair and oxygen,
it can be a real risk."

People using home oxygen therapy can reduce their risk of
burns by shaving facial hair, using water-based hair gels
instead of those with alcohol or oil, using humidified oxygen
and by avoiding sparks and flames, the study authors said.

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